Chad Hartman interview with St. Paul City Council candidate David Martinez fall apart

Listen to the full interview here.

Update: David Martinez has since been arrested for committing revenge porn against his wife for posting a topless photo of her on his blog. He now faces charges for felony non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images. He also posted a restraining order his wife took out against him in which she says he suffers from depression and that his behavior had been deteriorating over the last three to four weeks.

--

St. Paul City Council candidate David Martinez has garnered a lot of media attention recently, but not for his policy proposals — in the last few days, he’s been kicked out of a library and a Twins game at Target Field for allegedly being disruptive.

His eventual week continued during an appearance with WCCO Radio’s Chad Hartman, which disintegrated into a contentious back-and-forth.

The interview began with a straightforward question — Hartman asked Martinez how he could explain the two incidents and if the thought they would hurt his candidacy.

Martinez said he had spent the past weekend thinking about it, and had concluded that it had to do with the fact that his campaign platform focuses on equity and justice, and closing all the gaps that exist in the Twin Cities.

"So whenever I see something that doesn't look right, I'm going to say something," he said.

But the conversation took another turn when Martinez started to talk about his frustrations with how another radio station — KQRS — had discussed his story. When Hartman tried to shift back to asking Martinez questions, the interview quickly fell apart.

Chad Hartman: You have to let me talk here.

David Martinez: You’re interviewing me, so you listen...

CH: David, this is not how it’s going to go…

DM: Then the conversation’s over, CHAD!

CH: David…

DM: You called me for an interview, and now you’re trying to tell me to be quiet?

CH: No, I’m trying to ask you a question...

DM: Then that’s the end of the conversation, Chad. You called me for an interview…

CH: Not a filibuster.

DM: … so sit there and listen. Sit there, ask the questions and listen.

CH: Then you need to let me ask questions. I didn’t have you on here to debate KQRS…

DM: Then ask the questions. Don't tell me how to say and this and that. You ask the question and then you listen to my response. That’s it.

Later, Martinez made the point that his approach helped the issues he cares about get attention.

"I'm going to raise my voice here. Make my point. If I would have said this the Minnesota way, these issues would have gotten no coverage."

Off-air, he added that he thought the media has been unfair to him because they already had a pre-set idea of who he was, based on the two incidents and the subsequent coverage.